Shielding electromagnetic radiation in the visible range and the ultraviolet range may be desirable to create a dark environment during daylight hours or to prevent ionizing radiation, such as what may occur at wavelengths below 400 nanometers, from damaging biological tissue and/or other oxidation-sensitive materials.
Visible light and ultraviolet radiation may primarily penetrate woven textiles by penetrating through a set of pores that exist between an interlacing of a set of weft yarns and a set of warp yarns that make up the fabric. Some visible and ultraviolet radiation may also pass directly through the yarns of the woven textile or pass by indirect diffraction through the textile. A method for creating a light-impervious textile-like material that forms a barrier against electromagnetic radiation breach may including coating one or both sides of a woven textile in synthetic polymer (e.g., a rubber or a plastic) to fill the pores between the interlacing. However, the addition of a light-blocking coating such as a synthetic polymer may substantially decrease desirable mechanical properties of a native state of the woven textile as well as decrease breathability.
A person or an organization may require complete darkness for several reasons. Hotels and/or hospitals may be subject to a set of regulations requiring curtains over windows of a room to create a “blackout” environment that is substantially lacking in visible light and/or UV radiation. Specifically, a person may wish to have darkness so that they can rest with greater ease, or may even be subject to medical conditions that require complete darkness (e.g., sensitivity to light). The person may also wish to prevent visible and/or UV light from entering a location to decrease the heat absorbed by that area and therefore possible save money and energy to cool the area.
Additionally, darkness may be required in deployed military settings such as a command tent that may be set up in a desert. The command tent may have a set of communications and control equipment, and a display screen associated with the communications and control equipment may be difficult to see in a bright environments. Additionally, an exposure to UV light penetrating small pores in a tent fabric may, after a prolonged period, give rise to sun burn or even skin cancer in personnel within the tent despite the inclination that one is in the “shade” of the tent.
The synthetic polymer coating used to increase resistance to visible and UV light penetration may lack aesthetic appeal and create undesirable physical properties. For example, a woven curtain inside a hotel room may be coated on one side by the synthetic polymer. The woven curtain may look aesthetically pleasing from the interior of the hotel room (being that the woven side faces the inside of the hotel room), but may not look aesthetically pleasing as seen from the exterior of the hotel through the windows of the hotel room. Additionally, adding the synthetic polymer may decease flexibility, causing limited application (e.g., cannot be comfortably employed as apparel). Adding the synthetic polymer may also decrease breathability, for example causing the command tent to rapidly heat up being that it may be employed in the desert.